babble is rabble.ca's discussion board but it's much more than that: it's an online community for folks who just won't shut up. It's a place to tell each other — and the world — what's up with our work and campaigns.

"French President Nicholas Sarkozy hides in a bar to escape from hundreds of angry protesters who booed him during an election campaign in France's southwest Basque country. Shouting 'Sarkozy, president of the rich' and 'Sarkosy get lost!' the protesters chased him into the Bar du Palais in central Bayonne where he was campaigning for reelection in the city on Thursday.."

here is a candidate more to the liking of many at Babble, doing very well at 10 per cent putting him 4th/5th depending on the polls, a former Socialist minister leading the united Left including Communists:

however, there is a deep taboo now against vote-splitting in the first round April 22, as in 2002 that led to the early ouster of the then Socialist PM Lionel Jospin, and the accession of Jean-Marie Le Pen to the final runoff vs Chirac ... won 80-20 by Chirac with the nose-holding support of all "republican" voters

hence the very strong 1st-place showing of Francois Hollande, the ex Socialist party secretary, a moderate and sort of the Brian Topp of the party

"Damaging new claims have emerged about the funding of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign and his links with former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi emerged. The French investigative website Mediapart claims to have seen a confidential note suggesting Gaddafi contributed up to $50 M to Sarkozy's election fund five years ago.

Similar allegations emerged a year ago when Gaddafi's son Saif al Islam claimed Libya helped finance the 2007 campaign and demanded the French president, who led the war on the Libyan leader, return the money. The latest allegations come at a crucial time for Sarkozy who is seeking a second term in office in a two-round election in under six weeks..."

Make big loan then have the lender murdered. Here's hoping Mossad's little French President loses as a result of this..

"An estimated 120,000 people rallied in Paris to support France's far-left and their call to replace the nation's constitution. The Karl Marx quoting presidential candidate of the Left Front coalition, Jean Luc Melenchon, continues to gain popularity thanks to his program of boosting social spending and calling for an end to France's 5th Republic.."

he was a Socialist minister 10 years ago and the youngest Senator in France, so he is in no way an outsider,

but he is catching a wave the way no one in the Europe Ecologie or various Trot mini-groups on the left have been able to this year; in any case, close to 100 per cent of his votes wil return to Socialist candidate vs Sarkozy in 2nd round, polls say

This is an unfortunate incident at this time of election campaigns in France. The recent school shootings should be cause to instill enough fear in French voters that they demand more domestic security and crackdowns on lawlessness in general.

Left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon led thousands of supporters in a festive campaign march to Bastille square in Paris on Sunday. With five weeks left before the first round of France’s presidential election, Mélenchon has been gaining increasing support from voters and threatening incumbent president Nicolas Sarkozy's most serious challenger, Socialist Party candidate François Hollande.

"The French president has caused an outcry after dozens of infant school children were forced to chant 'Long Live Sarkozy!' when he visited their school. Parents complained about the youngsters being used as 'propaganda tools' after they were made to treat Nicolas Sarkozy as a hero, waving Tricolour flags and constantly shouting his name. Some were even kissed by Mr Sarkozy, who is hugely unpopular and widely expected to lose the presidential election being held in France in the Spring.."

"French firebrand leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon made a show of force in the southern city of Toulouse on Thursday, drawing tens of thousands of supporters in a rally in which he called for France to withdraw from NATO and harkened back to revolutionary times. 'When there is no more liberty, civil insurrection becomes a sacred duty of the Republic,' he said, pausing for cheers to die down as the crowd waved dozens of flags.

Melenchon also made an appeal for French sovereignty over international groupings, like the European-Union, which he said 'strangle the voice of the people,' repeating his call to pull France out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)"

Melenchon's rise in the polls challenges the working-class wing of the National Front's support...the voters (a large number of whom were former PCF supporters or the children of such supporters)who displaced their anger at the political/economic status quo off of the capitalists and onto immigrants. Anything that threatens the FN ultimately threatens not only Sarkozy's party but the enture upper-class project both in France and throughout Europe. For that reason, you might start seeing covert funding being slipped to the FN in the last days of the campaign.

If Melenchon succeeds in significantly reducing Le Pen's vote total, it ultimately threatens French and international capital, since both depend on deflectionist movements like the FN (or the far right parties in Germany, The Netherlands and other places)to divide working-class people and reduce the effectiveness of class-based resistance to neoliberalism.

Nothing new here...it's half the reason the captains of German industry started bankrolling the guy with the little moustache in the late 1920's.

Left Front demands include better pensions, a rise in the minimum wage, freezing rent levels, and a legally enforced maximum income for French residents. Their programme calls for strict limits on the use of temporary work contracts, building social housing, opening hospitals rather than closing them, high taxes for the rich, as well as the setting up of a Ministry of Women’s Rights, a welcome to immigrants, and a thorough reform of the parliament and presidency. In foreign policy, the Left Front demands a renegotiation of European economic treaties in order to defend public services, withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan and withdrawal of France from NATO. There are good reasons why the Front provokes widespread enthusiasm. Positive also is the idea that class struggle is important and a mass fightback need to be organized.

But Mélenchon’s mix includes ideas which are far from revolutionary. Just recently, he expressed his satisfaction that the Indian Army had chosen to buy dozens of fighter aircraft from France. He claims that the French Republic is not imperialist, but something to be proud of...

Left Front demands include better pensions, a rise in the minimum wage, freezing rent levels, and a legally enforced maximum income for French residents. Their programme calls for strict limits on the use of temporary work contracts, building social housing, opening hospitals rather than closing them, high taxes for the rich, as well as the setting up of a Ministry of Women’s Rights, a welcome to immigrants, and a thorough reform of the parliament and presidency. In foreign policy, the Left Front demands a renegotiation of European economic treaties in order to defend public services, withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan and withdrawal of France from NATO. There are good reasons why the Front provokes widespread enthusiasm. Positive also is the idea that class struggle is important and a mass fightback need to be organized.

But Mélenchon’s mix includes ideas which are far from revolutionary. Just recently, he expressed his satisfaction that the Indian Army had chosen to buy dozens of fighter aircraft from France. He claims that the French Republic is not imperialist, but something to be proud of...